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Published: December 11th 2007
Ho Chi Minh City...still known as Saigon to some locals, what a crazy place to arrive! luckily i had been told about the motorbikes and traffic but i did face a huge dilema when trying to cross the road on my own with a huge rucksack on my back! There are more than 3 million motorbikes! Literally bikes coming from every direction.. i had been instructed that you just have to walk out onto the road, to make no sudden movements and the bikes go around you! Easier said than done!! Anyway i just had to more or less close my eyes and go for it! Sure enough they did all go around me! Luckily i spotted the shrimps ( nick name for jackie and wayne and all of us when we get together although i have no idea why!) outside the guest house so was reunited quickly and didnt have to face any more traffic alone!
So off we went for snails from a street stall! So fresh they were still moving! i found them a bit chewy but was fun trying them, also tried another unidentified sea creature which was tasty, they give you a little pot of
salt and pepper which you squeese oranges into , yummm!
Quite happy with Vietnam, 83 million people here! Like saigon but a bit too hectic to started the journey up north to Mui ne which is a beach village. We had a near death experience here as a coconut fell from a tree landing right next to our feet! Enjoying vietnam at this point, beautiful weather,m treated ourselves to a 5 pound a night resort with a pool! The budget will start tomorrow... Its a funny place, when the cars reverse they play funny tunes like happy birthday or jingle bells! Had fresh bbq makeral for lunch twice!Eating at small family run places, always looking for plastic chairs as this indicates cheap eats! It takes about 2 hours for the food to arrive, i think they actually go out and catch the fish once you order but its worth the wait!
We hired a guide for the day and went off to see the sights, borrowed a sheet of plastic and went sliding down sand dunes..nothing compared to peru although still lots of fun, saw a fishing village, millions of little boats, women sorting through crabs on the
beach and drying sardines on the rocks. Poor Jackie has a phobia of crabs so this wasnt too much fun for her!
We went to Ta Cu Mountain to see a 49m white sleeping Budda, the largest in Vietnam, it was constructed in 1861 and is a very important pilgramige centre for buddists. Loads of people were trecking up the steps bring offerings for the Budda, a nice woman gave us an orang on the way and happily posed for some pictures!
Next stop Dalat in the central highlands, apparantly like the french alps in springtime , clearly we were in the wrong area because it didnt look anything like france!
Had a poor start to the day highlighting our stupidity! We hiread a driver agian after bartering with the tour guide over 2 dollas, we were waiting outside for the car to arrive when a van pulled up and ushered us in, all in and off he goes, 10 minutes later he asks us where we wanted to go which was odd as the the tour guide had explained over the phone where we were going, then Jackie noticed the meter was running and we'd actually got
in a taxi! A lot of confusion later we managed to get him to go back to the office witha lot of hand jestures and shouting! Luckily the lady from the tour office managed to get our money back and call our driver to come back! Eventually when we set off we went to a few places, saw a giant chicken made of rock and went to a crazy house! By far the best house ive ever seen!A giant sureal artwork house, architecture is guadi-meets-Alice in wonderland! Caves, giant cobwebs made of wire,scary looking animals- All very random in Vietnam!
Yet another palova of a day... On the local bus to Lac lake, bought a ticket from a tour office so thought we'd have no problems, on our way to lac lake to stay in traditional long houses. A little cramped as they pile on anyone they find in a street but 5 hours later we thought we arrived however we couldnt see a lake anywhere! No sooner did we find out that we'd passed the lake an hour earlier! We were clearly in an area where no tourists had been ever! The locals were gathering around us,
an old lady was following every step we took! All in curiosity though! They were touching the hairs on our arms in amazement as they dont have any! We decided not to go back on our selves and headed on another local bus to Na trang ( another 5 hours to go ) This journey was horrible, the bus had had fish in before we got in...need i say more! the driver then contined to drive around the streets for an hour with a guy hanging out the door trying to get people to get on, soon our heads were crammed up against the windows trying to get some air with the amount of people on the bus! About another 10 hours later we arrived in Na Trang!
According to the Lonley plantet Na Trang has a beautiful turquoise beach...but as its wet season its brown! all the rain runs off the rivers intot he bay turning it a murky colour! Decided to chill out by the pool after our traumatic day traveling. We then went for fresh seafood ont he beach. A little old lady with a long pole across her shoulders with a pot on either side filled
with alive lobster, crabs , snails and alll sorts cooked on her bbq in fornt of us. We followed the seafood with fruit from a singing fruit lady!
The weather became really bad while were here but we still wne ton a few boat trips to go swimming in clear water further out at sea, also did a fishing trip wherei caught nothing! We thought maybe the weather would pick up but it only got worse, outside our guesthouse it was knee deep in water! We decided to move on to Hoi an but as it was rainningthere we carried on the bus to Hue. We later discovered that Typhoon Hagibis hit 100 miles east of Na trang on the 24th the day we left.
Hanoi was certainly my fave city in Vietnam, its like old and new blending together with a touch of France. Really colourful, some fantastic buildings. There was still a mass of motorbikes and traffic but nothing like as much in Saigon. the city managed to survive some American bombs but many parts were destroyed in the war.
From here we did a 2 day boat trip to Halong Bay, this was just bliss as
the weather was so good! It was designated a world heritage site in 1984. 3000 islands in the gulf of Tonkin,very close to china. All the beaches and grottos were created by yhe winds and waves. As the dragon is very sacred in Vietnam they believed the bay was created by a dragon that lived in the mountains which charged towards the coast and gouged valley's with its tail! ( their very own loch ness monster!) Halong means ' where the dragon descends to sea'
We set off on the boat sunbathing on the roof, went Kayaking through little caves although me and jackie couldnt find our boat for ages! kept trying each one!
Back in Hanoi we took the overnight train to Sapa in North West Vietnam, very high up i the mountains to see the minority cultures. was really beautiful, casading rice terraces down the mountains, valleys and villages full of hill-tribe people who do literally pop out of the hills!
We arrived into a very nice hotel already booked with our toue, 3 meals a day included. We went down to Cat cat village first just for a short walk, we soon were swamped by kids
and little old women trying to sell us all sorts of sewn goods , " you buy from me" is what they kept repeating, they were so nice though it was hard to refuse!
Teh next day we set off on a 2 day trek to the villages to see the H'MOng people who are in the highest part of the mountains,they produce hemp clothing and use the indigo plant to dye ( so they all have blue hands! )Traditionaly they were very poor but they seem to be doing very well now from the tourist indusry, i think alot of them were just dressed up in traditional clothing for us! they finish school at 14 then just start selling. Their english was amazing and they had a really good sence of humour. After getting fed up with them all following us You buy from me you buy from me!! we started having fun with them, suggesting i swap Jade for a blanket, they went along with it and was quite funny! After a kid each walked next to us for the whole day we did buy a few things, even though we didnt want them! We actually ended up
buying all sorts of blakets, scarves, ...
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